The Final Skate

HIO readers: Below is my final post for the NY Times Slap Shot blog. I’m moving over to Sports Illustrated’s website starting next week. I’ll be taking a short break from HIO as I get settled at SI.com, but hope to be back here within a couple of weeks. Thanks for all your support and kind comments this fall. — SH

The horn will sound today signaling the end of my posting on The Times
Slap Shot blog, but before going into that, here’s our final skate
through the N.H.L.

rH_l70gXcYQ

There was no better show last night than the one put on by old rivals
Boston and Montreal, going at it with playoff intensity in a game won
by the Canadiens 3-1. But it’s funny how perceptions of the game differ.

“That was a fantastic hockey game,” Pierre McGuire, who was the
rinkside analyst for TSN, effused this morning on Ottawa radio Team 990 (audio),
lauding the great goaltending of Tuukka Rask and Carey Price, the many
bodychecks delivered, the skill and pace at which it was played.

“Surprisingly, there was hardly any sizzle….Aside from a few
flareups, last night’s game barely tickled the needle on the emotional
gauge,” wrote Fluto
Shinzawa in The Boston Globe.

Well, both can’t be right, right? The Greek tragedian Aeschylus
wrote, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” The same must be true
among journalists reporting on hockey rivalries.

The Final Skate

HIO readers: Below is my final post for the NY Times Slap Shot blog. I’m moving over to Sports Illustrated’s website starting next week. I’ll be taking a short break from HIO as I get settled at SI.com, but hope to be back here within a couple of weeks. Thanks for all your support and kind comments this fall. — SH

The horn will sound today signaling the end of my posting on The Times
Slap Shot blog, but before going into that, here’s our final skate
through the N.H.L.

rH_l70gXcYQ

There was no better show last night than the one put on by old rivals
Boston and Montreal, going at it with playoff intensity in a game won
by the Canadiens 3-1. But it’s funny how perceptions of the game differ.

“That was a fantastic hockey game,” Pierre McGuire, who was the
rinkside analyst for TSN, effused this morning on Ottawa radio Team 990 (audio),
lauding the great goaltending of Tuukka Rask and Carey Price, the many
bodychecks delivered, the skill and pace at which it was played.

“Surprisingly, there was hardly any sizzle….Aside from a few
flareups, last night’s game barely tickled the needle on the emotional
gauge,” wrote Fluto
Shinzawa in The Boston Globe.

Well, both can’t be right, right? The Greek tragedian Aeschylus
wrote, “In war, truth is the first casualty.” The same must be true
among journalists reporting on hockey rivalries.

Yeah, well I like 15 year old Scotch with Cuban cigars. Can’t smoke the cigars now, because I quit smoking cigarettes 4 years ago, and I don’t want to get on the nicotine again. Sucks, but that’s life.

Really the best case scenario is the Leafs win the President’s Trophy and then get swept in the first round (by Boston or the Habs?) – and then not make the playoffs the next season. From their high of finishing first the Bruins get a late pick, and then with a first round sweep the Leafs are totally humiliated. Win-win.

Unfortunately, the Leafs suck far too much for this little daydream to come to fruition.

I hate to burst your bubble there, but Halak still has better numbers overall than Price this season, in all major statistical categories.

Just sayin’…

So why are you on here rinning your mouth like Halak sucks and Price is the second coming of Christ? Just be happy Price is playing well, because after last season it wasn’t even close regarding who was the better goalie, whether you chose to think so or not. Good for Price to be playing so well, and he’s shut up the detractors (including me), but Halak has also shut up his thus far.

So somehow Price didn’t crack the top 18 in the league fot the All-Star game ballot! The Drunk Russian in
Edmonton got his name in there, with a sparkling, 4 wins, 3.64 GAA and
.890 SV%. Or how about MA Fluery, and his 2 wins, 3.23 GAA and an
amazing .860 SV%. Niemi, 1 W, 3.90, SV% .872! Price also has better
stats in all three categories then a couple more that made it, Brodeur,
Bryzgalov, Giguere, Lundqvist, Luongo, Kiprusoff, Vokoun, Ward, Miller,
Rinne, Anderson… Yep couldn’t make that group

your right it’s not all about price but when halak was traded it’s all i heard about how this team was doomed and that halak is better than price etc,etc, well he isn’t better than price never will be either! subban is an absolute stud and will win rookie of the year hands down.

i was hoping the leafs would make the playoffs this year, behind habs of course, but i mean its all well and good to rag on leaf fans, but ever since i was a kid i’ve wanted to see a playoff series between the two clubs.

Im more annoyed with the leafs than ever before. They really put the northeast in Boston’s hands for years to come. I read some of the leafs fans comments on TSN and a bunch of them say fire Burke and restart the building process . If they give boston another top notch prospect in this years draft, Boston will eventually be unstoppable and therefore the leafs will never win ever again!!!! I hate what the leafs have done and it hurts to say but i hope they start winning soon and at least finish in 9-11 position in the east.

Hey, anybody hear Brian Burke lamenting on the Leafs “Decades of failure” and that their calender is not 2 years but from 1967, HAHAHAHA. I dont hear them making fun of Carey Prices’ inability to win at home anymore.